A California woman is suing the San Leandro Police Department after officers allegedly pulled her from a car, piled on top of her, and stomped on her stomach during a traffic stop, causing her to miscarry.
Emerald Black and her fiance were pulled over by police in June of 2019 for “bad registration tags” while on the way back from a pregnancy exam, according to the complaint filed by Black and obtained by Vice.
While officers spoke to her fiance, Black sat in the passenger seat, visibly pregnant and still dressed in hospital clothing. Officers asked Black to step out of the vehicle, and having just found her pregnancy was considered “high risk” for miscarriage, Black asked to remain in the vehicle.
That is when she alleges the officers pulled her out of the car, taunter her, and assaulted her, leaving shoe marks. No charges were ever filed against her.
As a result of the “officers’ excessive force,” Black suffered a miscarriage a few days later.
Black is suing for physical injury, loss of wages, fear, anxiety, various rights violations and is seeking “general damages in a sum to be proven at trial,” as well as medical expenses.
